zaterdag 23 augustus 2008

Soylent Green (1973)


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/



Synopsis:
Quote
A tale of Earth in despair in 2022. Natural food like fruits, vegetables, and meat among others are now extinct. Earth is overpopulated and New York City has 40 million starving, poverty stricken people. The only way they survive is with water rations and eating a mysterious food called Soylent. A detective investigates the murder of the president of the Soylent company. The truth he uncovers is more disturbing than the Earth in turmoil when he learns the secret ingredient of Soylent Green. Written by Mystic80
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/plotsummary


Thematic PP elements:
  1. The setting of the movie elaborates on a very simple but alarming scenario, which is, if we're heading for (global) overpopulation then this is what will happen to you. So right from the start, the public is imbued with fear for overpopulation. The distinction between what is overpopulation and what is not remains an arbitrary one though. Unfortunately however, as they always do, unquestionably the government will claim the role of decisive arbiter and trust on moral support of the docile and gullible public.

    This programs the public, again on the basis of fear, to accept and support governmental future measures aimed at combating and reducing over-population. The 'exemplary' precedent of the country of China comes to mind in which fear for overpopulation has successfully been solidified into an overall effective public support of birth restrictive policies.
  2. The Elite are living the good life in totally cordoned off sections from 'the masses'. The discrepancy between the rich and the poor is thus accentuated and leaves the viewer a little more trained to, one day, accept this difference in standards of living.
Suggested PP elements:
  1. The movie suggests a general sense of an elevated atmospheric temperature. The correlation of overpopulation with temperature seems evident. This may program the public to accept guilt and responsibility for it being the cause of global warming. As such, the groundwork for public acceptance of a carbon tax has been put into being.
  2. Assaulting a police officer, even the lesser offensive ones, will get you life in prison, the movie explains. This will train the public to blindly accept the authority of the police, making them literally untouchable.

  3. Rental apartments for the rich, by default, seem to come with inventory prostitutes ("furniture"). This familiarizes the public with the degrading and dehumanizing capacity a female might serve in the future.
  4. There's a blatant form of 'assisted suicide' instituted for the elderly people. This helps train the public to accept some governmental imposed form of euthanasia, since it is implied that the earth cannot sustain itself bearing too many humans.


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